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Oracle vs Google at settlement impasse

Java row to go to trial.

Oracle and Google have reached an "irreconcilable impasse" in settlement negotiations in a high-profile intellectual property lawsuit and the companies' lawyers should prepare for trial, a US magistrate judge has ruled.

US Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal said he would not convene any further settlement conferences in the patent and copyright lawsuit against Google over the Java programming language.

A Google representative could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for Oracle declined to comment.

The trial is currently scheduled to begin on April 16 before US District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco.

According to a court filing made public last week, Google offered to pay Oracle roughly US$2.8 million in damages on the two patents remaining in the case, covering the period through 2011, according to a filing made jointly by the companies.

For future damages, Google proposed paying Oracle 0.5 percent of Android revenue on one patent until it expires this December and 0.015 percent on a second patent until it expires in April 2018.

Oracle rebuffed the offer as too low, the filing said.

In addition to those patent claims, Oracle also seeks hundreds of millions of dollars in damages over copyright infringement allegations against Google. Oracle acquired the Java programming language through its purchase of Sun Microsystems in 2010.

Grewal wished both sides "good luck" in his Monday order.

"We are referred to as trial courts because, in the end, some cases just need to be tried," Grewal wrote. "This case is a good example of why that is so."

The case in US District Court, Northern District of California, is Oracle America, Inc v. Google Inc, 10-3561.

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